{"id":4005,"date":"2018-07-21T21:07:06","date_gmt":"2018-07-21T20:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/?p=4005"},"modified":"2020-09-01T14:45:34","modified_gmt":"2020-09-01T13:45:34","slug":"algorithmus-basierte-preisbindung-aus-effizienzgruenden-gerechtfertigt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/news-insights\/algorithmus-basierte-preisbindung-aus-effizienzgruenden-gerechtfertigt\/","title":{"rendered":"Algorithmic Price-Fixing Arrangement Justified on Efficiency Grounds"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"4005\" class=\"elementor elementor-4005\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"has_eae_slider elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-5e192929 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-eae-slider=\"88859\" data-id=\"5e192929\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"has_eae_slider elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-328c9e8\" data-eae-slider=\"70999\" data-id=\"328c9e8\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1457845 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"1457845\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"825\" height=\"495\" src=\"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Algorithmic-Price-Fixing-Arrangement-Justified-on-Efficiency-Grounds-EN.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-image-3990\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Algorithmic-Price-Fixing-Arrangement-Justified-on-Efficiency-Grounds-EN.jpg 825w, https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Algorithmic-Price-Fixing-Arrangement-Justified-on-Efficiency-Grounds-EN-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Algorithmic-Price-Fixing-Arrangement-Justified-on-Efficiency-Grounds-EN-768x461.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 825px) 100vw, 825px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"has_eae_slider elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-a76e28a\" data-eae-slider=\"7024\" data-id=\"a76e28a\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-99081b4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-theme-post-title elementor-page-title elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"99081b4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"theme-post-title.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Algorithmic Price-Fixing Arrangement Justified on Efficiency Grounds<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5f29e2b elementor-widget elementor-widget-post-info\" data-id=\"5f29e2b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"post-info.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"elementor-inline-items elementor-icon-list-items elementor-post-info\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-685ec73 elementor-inline-item\" itemprop=\"about\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-tags\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-terms\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-post-info__terms-list\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-post-info__terms-list-item\">Competition<\/span>, <span class=\"elementor-post-info__terms-list-item\">News<\/span>\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-d50ae70 elementor-inline-item\" itemprop=\"datePublished\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-calendar\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-date\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time>21.07.2018<\/time>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-ec6c601 elementor-inline-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-user-circle\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-custom\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMario Strebel, Fabian Koch\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4d17332b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4d17332b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-no-translation=\"\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<style>.elementor-element-4d17332b{display:none !important}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e6fdab6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"e6fdab6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-no-translation=\"\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<style>.elementor-element-e6fdab6{display:none !important}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0bcb7c3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0bcb7c3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-no-translation=\"\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>On 7 June 2018, the Luxembourg Competition Authority rendered in a purely domestic case a decision exempting the algorithmic price-fixing arrangement of Webtaxi, a booking platform for taxi services in Luxembourg, on grounds of economic efficiency. In light of the recent case law of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court and the expected concomitant shift of potential defence strategies in cartel cases amongst others to the efficiency test, the decision provides some valuable insights as regards its applicability and functioning, in particular in a platform economy context.<\/strong><\/p><p>In its\u00a0<a class=\"logclick ct_cont\" href=\"https:\/\/concurrence.public.lu\/dam-assets\/fr\/decisions\/ententes\/2018\/decision-n-2018-fo-01-du-7-juin-2018-version-non-confidentielle.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">decision<\/a>, the\u00a0<a class=\"logclick ct_cont\" href=\"https:\/\/concurrence.public.lu\/fr.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Luxembourg Competition Authority<\/a>\u00a0(LCA) had to examine the algorithm of\u00a0<a class=\"logclick ct_cont\" href=\"https:\/\/www.webtaxi.lu\/en\/welcome.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Webtaxi<\/a>, a booking platform for taxi services in Luxembourg. Until 3 February 2017, the algorithm only recommended a maximum price, leaving it to the taxi drivers and customers to negotiate the fares within this upper limit. As of this date, however, the algorithm <strong>determined the fares to be paid by the customers in a fixed non-negotiable manner<\/strong>, thereby factoring in several parameters such as price per kilometre, distance and travelling time of taxi rides and traffic condition.<\/p><p>Based on this examination, the LCA concluded that the algorithmic price-fixing constituted an\u00a0<strong>object restriction<\/strong>\u00a0on competition, rendering unnecessary to further look into whether or not the price fixing has had any effects on the concerned market. With reference to the case law of the\u00a0<a class=\"logclick ct_cont\" href=\"https:\/\/curia.europa.eu\/jcms\/jcms\/j_6\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Court of Justice of the European Union<\/a>\u00a0pursuant to which all agreements restricting competition \u2013 be it by object or effect \u2013 may in principle profit from an exception, it inquired whether or not the agreement could be\u00a0<strong>exempted individually<\/strong>. Conducting the four limb test provided by article 4 of the\u00a0<a class=\"logclick ct_cont\" href=\"https:\/\/concurrence.public.lu\/dam-assets\/fr\/legislation\/loi-du-23-octobre-2011-relative-a-la-concurrence-version-coordonnee-du-4-avril-2017.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Luxembourgish Competition Act<\/a>\u00a0that basically corresponds to article 101(3) of the Treaty on the\u00a0<a class=\"logclick ct_cont\" href=\"https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/TXT\/PDF\/?uri=CELEX:12012E\/TXT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Functioning of the European Union<\/a>, it found that in the two sided platform market, the\u00a0<strong>algorithm allowed for a multitude of efficiency gains<\/strong>,\u00a0<em>inter alia<\/em>\u00a0less empty taxi rides and pollution, ultimately to the benefit of consumers. The latter get a fair share of these efficiency gains, in particular in form of\u00a0<strong>cheaper taxi rides<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>reduced waiting times<\/strong>. It further came to the conclusion that the application of the price-fixing algorithm was necessary. In the absence of uniform pricing, customers would no longer necessarily choose the geographically nearest taxi, but try to get an even better bargain in the individual case. Finally, with a market share of the taxis in Luxembourg operating under the Webtaxi platform of only 26 %, the LCA saw no risk of competition being eliminated in the relevant market.<\/p><p>From a Swiss competition law perspective, the Webtaxi decision is relevant for manifold reasons. This is particularly true with a view on the recent case law of the\u00a0<a class=\"logclick ct_cont\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bger.ch\/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Swiss Federal Supreme Court <\/a>(<a class=\"logclick ct_cont\" href=\"http:\/\/relevancy.bger.ch\/php\/clir\/http\/index.php?highlight_docid=atf%3A%2F%2F143-II-297%3Ade&amp;lang=de&amp;type=show_document\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gaba\/Elmex<\/a>,\u00a0<a class=\"logclick ct_cont\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bger.ch\/ext\/eurospider\/live\/de\/php\/aza\/http\/index.php?highlight_docid=aza%3A%2F%2F24-10-2017-2C_63-2016&amp;lang=de&amp;type=show_document&amp;zoom=YES&amp;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BMW<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a class=\"logclick ct_cont\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bger.ch\/ext\/eurospider\/live\/de\/php\/aza\/http\/index.php?lang=de&amp;type=highlight_simple_query&amp;page=1&amp;from_date=&amp;to_date=&amp;sort=relevance&amp;insertion_date=&amp;top_subcollection_aza=all&amp;query_words=Altimum&amp;rank=1&amp;azaclir=aza&amp;highlight_docid=aza%3A%2F%2F18-05-2018-2C_101-2016&amp;number_of_ranks=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Altimum<\/a>)\u00a0according to which agreements that fall under article 5(3) or (4) of the\u00a0<a class=\"logclick ct_cont\" href=\"https:\/\/www.admin.ch\/opc\/en\/classified-compilation\/19950278\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Swiss Cartel Act<\/a>\u00a0(CartA, in particular horizontal and vertical agreements directly or indirectly fixing prices or allocating markets) do in general significantly restrict competition within the meaning of article 5(1) CartA. In light of this case law, defence strategies in cartel cases will shift away from article 5(1) CartA and the significance debate to the questions whether there was, in fact, an agreement affecting competition under article 4(1) CartA and, if so, whether such agreement can be justified for reasons of economic efficiency as provided by article 5(2) CartA. The Webtaxi decision is particularly interesting since it demonstrates that the\u00a0<strong>efficiency test must also be applied in case of a \u201chardcore\u201d horizontal price fixing case<\/strong>, a question that still seems controversial in Switzerland. It is also informative in that it shows that under the condition of economic efficiencies, effects such as a contribution to combatting the greenhouse effect might be factored in. This factor would strictly speaking not be regarded as economic efficiency, at least not in a narrow sense, and might remind some of the \u201cSaldo\u201d-theory contained in the 1985 CartA. However, the importance of the Webtaxi case must be put into perspective:\u00a0<strong>Not too often will price-fixing lead to lower prices for consumers<\/strong>\u00a0as is the case with the Webtaxi algorithm, making it relatively easy for competition authorities to agree on the pro-competitive effects of such agreement.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c0b3fb0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c0b3fb0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-no-translation=\"\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>CORE Attorneys is a boutique law firm in Switzerland, focusing on <a href=\"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/expertise\/wettbewerbsrecht\/\">competition\/antitrust law<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/expertise\/regulierung\/\">regulatory<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/expertise\/vertriebsrecht\/\">distribution law<\/a> matters. Visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/news-insights\/\">News &amp; Insights<\/a> and follow us on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/core-attorneys\">LinkedIn<\/a> for regular updates on all our focus areas.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Am 7. Juni 2018 stellte die Luxemburgische Wettbewerbsbeh\u00f6rde in einem rein domestischen Fall die algorithmische Preisfestsetzung von Webtaxi aus Gr\u00fcnden der wirtschaftlichen Effizienz frei. Webtaxi ist eine Buchungsplattform f\u00fcr Taxidienste in Luxemburg. Vor dem Hintergrund der j\u00fcngsten Rechtsprechung des Schweizerischen&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Algorithmus-basierte Preisbindung aus Effizienzgr\u00fcnden gerechtfertigt","_seopress_titles_desc":"Algorithmus-basierte Preisbindung aus Effizienzgr\u00fcnden gerechtfertigt","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9],"tags":[59,62,56,61,57,60,58],"class_list":["post-4005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-competition","category-neuigkeiten","tag-algorithmus","tag-effizienzgruende","tag-kartellrecht","tag-oekonomische-effizienz","tag-preisbindung","tag-preisfixierung","tag-webtaxi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4005"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4116,"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4005\/revisions\/4116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}